February 8, 1968

Today as The Beatles put the finishing touches on both “The Inner Light” and “Across the Universe,” they had a special guest in the studio: comedian Spike Milligan, of Goon Show fame, who like Ringo Starr had appeared on Cilla Black’s TV show two days previously.

As it happened, Milligan was working on putting together a benefit album for the World Wildlife Fund. Since “Lady Madonna” and “The Inner Light” had been chosen as the A and B sides of the next Beatles single, “Across the Universe” was now an orphan, and Milligan asked if he could have it. Which is how the album came to be called No One’s Gonna Change Our World — which is sort of an odd title given the cause involved, if you think about it — when it finally appeared in late 1969.

This meant that any completist-minded Beatles fan would have to buy the album, whether or not they wanted the songs by the Bee Gees, Cliff Richard, or Rolf Harris (who did a number called “Cuddly Old Koala”). I’ll bet it made a nice chunk of change for the animals.